Conscientious Portfolio Competition 2012

CPC 2011 winner Yaakov Israel

From Joerg Colberg, Conscientious: I’m excited to announce the Conscientious Portfolio Competition 2012, the fourth of its kind. As before, the winner(s) will have their work featured here on this website, in the form of an extended conversation/interview. Two guest judges, Robert Lyons (director of the Hartford Art School Limited-Residency Photography MFA Program) and Michel Mallard (one of the masterminds behind the International Photography Festival in Hyères), are joining me to pick the winner(s) - and there’s a twist. Find all the details below. I will introduce Robert and Michel in more detail in a separate post.

The Conscientious Portfolio Competition (CPC) is free to enter. It’s no pay-to-play scheme. There are no costs involved for you other than the time it takes to decide about and send in your work.

CPC is aimed at emerging photographers. The term “emerging” is not extremely well defined. What it means is that photographers not represented by a gallery will get preferential treatment over those that already are (but of course, the quality of the work also plays an important role). ... The deadline is 31 October 2012, 11:59pm ET. No exceptions. [Read more...]

Brian Ulrich: Copia

Granger, IN, 2003 © Brian Ulrich

From Brian Ulrich's Website: Over the past 10 years I have been engaged with a long-term photographic examination of the peculiarities and complexities of the consumer-dominated culture in which we live. This project titled Copia, explores not only the everyday activities of shopping, but the economic, cultural, social, and political implications of commercialism and the roles we play in self-destruction, over-consumption, and as targets of marketing and advertising. 

Initially this project began as a response to the heated environment of 2001. The communal sense of grieving, healing and solidarity that broke down social walls as our nation grappled to make some sense of the tragedy of September 11th was quickly outpaced as the government encouraged citizens to take to the malls to boost the U.S. economy thereby equating consumerism with patriotism. [Read more...] [View Copia]

Untitled, 2005 © Brian Ulrich

From Lost in E Minor interview, Sept 10, 2008: It does seem the only thing that will change Americans habits is circumstance. You can tell people over and over that driving a huge car is harmful and wasteful and they may even agree but most will only drive less if they can’t afford pay for gas. There may be less people out shopping these days but sadly no one is having the discussion over whether we do in fact need some of these things or what is the economic, and political fallout from building a society that is only as prosperous as it has money to buy things that are disposable and imported.

Belz Factory Outlet Mall, 2009 © Brian Ulrich

My most recent project from this year has been exploring these issues moreso in terms of retail space. The stores themselves seem the real indicator that Late Capitalism is failing. The economic model of basing a nation's well being on the GDP, Dow or profits of the smallest percentage of our country is one I believe terribly misguided. The abuse of that system leaves communities in neglect, unemployment rates rising and skyrocketing trade deficit. [Read more...]

Brian Ulrich also contributed to a discussion of EF Schumacher's book of essays, small is beautiful, for The Guardian's The Big Ideas podcast and gives an introduction to his work on Vimeo:

Steve McCurry: Food for Thought

Steve McCurry has published an essay entitled Food for Thought on his blog, which looks at food as the universal experience which binds humanity on a daily basis. Three of the image are below, followed by a link to the full essay.

Bakery run by widows, Kabul, Afghanistan  © Steve McCurry

Priyadarshini Park, Mumbai, India  © Steve McCurry

Tibet  © Steve McCurry

[View Food for Thought essay] 

An Al Jazeera interview with McCurry is below.



From Fotoflock's Interview of the month: Steve McCurry: Immortalized by his iconic photograph of an Afghan refugee girl in 1984 which has become the world's most recognizable photograph, leading documentary photographer Steve McCurry has covered many areas of international and civil conflict, including 30 years of conflict in Afghanistan. He focuses on the human consequences of war, not only showing what war impresses on the landscape, but rather what it shows on the human face. The results are thought provoking photos that move and inspire viewers. He is also an articulate social commentator on the cultures and subjects he photographs.

Could you describe your shooting philosophy?
I like to celebrate people, places and culture through my photography. I also like to tell stories about my subjects through my photographs - especially those I have shot in areas of conflict; and I think this is an important aspect of photojournalism - to show people what is happening. [Read more...]

[Steve McCurry's Website]

Erik Johansson: Impossible Photography

Arms break, vases don't © Eric Johannson

Erik Johansson is a Swedish surrealist photographer based in Germany. 

From Eric Johansson's website: At the age of 15 I got my first digital camera which opened up a new world. Being used to drawing it felt quite strange to be done after capturing a photo, it wasn't the process of creating something in the same way. Having an interest in computers made it a quite natural step to start playing around with the photos and creating something that you couldn't capture with the camera ....

Deep Cuts © Eric Johansson

Today I work with both personal and commissioned projects, in 2011 I also started doing street illusions and in 2012 I plan to move on to motion pictures as well as starting with a book project. In November 2011 I spoke at the TED conference in London about my images. I've been working with clients such as Google, Microsoft and IKEA. But the personal work and concepts will always be what's most important. Growing up on the Swedish countryside had a big impact on my visual style. A lot of the environments in my photos are captured near places I know, around my parents' home with wide open landscapes and small red houses. Inspiration is everywhere and this is just the beginning. [Read more...] [View portfolio]

In 2011 he gave a TED Talk:

Bert Stern: Original Madman

Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for The Weinstein Company

From Stuff.co.nz: August 5 marked the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's death and, for several weeks, there has been extensive media coverage about the screen legend. But for years photographer Bert Stern has been used to people asking him about Monroe.

Stern - a legend in his own right - took the last photographs of Monroe only weeks before she died. Now 82, he's not just being asked about them because of the anniversary. It's because Stern's own career is the subject of a new feature-length documentary Bert Stern, Original Madman. [Read more...]

Martine Franck Dies

Martine Franck in 1972  © Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos

From PDN: Magnum photographer Martine Franck, who was best known for her portraits of artists and writers, died in Paris yesterday at the age of 74. The cause of death was cancer, according to a family friend. Franck became a full member of Magnum in 1983, and was married to renowned photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, who died in 2004. [Read more ...] 

Balthus © Martine Franck/Magnum Photos

From The Guardian: Martine Franck, who has died aged 74, was a photographer of great contrasts. She started out by taking pictures in Asia, a continent she revisited for weeks at a time, but she also devoted herself to documenting daily life close to her homes in Paris and the Luberon, Provence. Her work is characterised by a fascination with the little intimacies and interactions in the lives of anonymous poor, marginalised and elderly people, yet she also assembled a matchless portfolio of portraits of famous authors and artists, including Seamus Heaney, Marc Chagall and Diego Giacometti. [Read more...]

A Magnum in Motion slideshow narrated by Franck, entitled A Way of Communicating, is worth watching. See also her Magum portfolio.

Simon Wheatley Interview

In April I blogged about Simon Wheatley's book Don't Call Me Urban, but failed to include a link to an excellent audio interview with him by Martin Fuchs. [Audio Interview]

From Martin Fuch's blog: "Maybe the most important thing I ever did was get away from England and that idea of having a career as a photojournalist. It's very competitive of course and I don't think that's a healthy environment in which to learn." - Simon Wheatley [Read more ...]

From Dazed Digital: Over the past few years, urban subculture has seen a magnificent rise from low-end silhouetted darkness to a bright, brilliant and powerful artform, through the mediums of music, (Dizzee Rascal, Tinie Tempah) films (Kidulthood) and now art. Photographer Simon Wheatley has recently released a book (titled Don't Call Me Urban! The Time of Grime) documenting the often controversial and always stunning culture of urban life. Arriving at his Bethnal Green studio, Dazed sat down to speak to Wheatley about art, culture and of course, snapping photos.

Dazed Digital: First up, why's the book called Don't Call Me Urban?
Simon Wheatley: It looks behind the glamorisation of urban life which has arisen. To be urban is not a joke, to be born urban is not a joke and in the context of at least this country its a harsh reality and I think that the mainstream media have been shallow in their portrayal. It's an attempt to go a bit deeper into a complex issue and to go beyond the stereotypes of the right wing media. [Read more ...]